Israel has Innocent Blood on its Hands

In response to the Chicago Sun-Times article: “Unlike terrorists, Israel fights by the rules”

Jay Ambrose’s column (“Unlike terrorists, Israel fights by the rules” June 19) attempts to wipe away the tragedy of the high profile attack on Palestinian families relaxing on a Gaza beach earlier this month.

Immediately after the attack, which killed seven members of the Ghalia family and one other person, Israeli forces admitted they had targeted the beach in a “mistake,” but swiftly changed the tune as dramatic video imagery of young Huda Ghalia screaming “father, father” by the corpses of her family spread throughout the world.

Ambrose absolves Israel of any fault by claiming Palestinians would not cooperate with Israeli investigators. If that were true, not many would blame the victims for not bowing to Israeli demands after barely surviving one of their attacks. In fact, Israel did complete an in-house investigation which unsurprisingly trumpeted their innocence in the matter.

Those findings have been disproved by Human Rights Watch, an independent organization, published and corroborated by newspapers such as The Gaurdian and The Independent. In a thorough investigation that included former Pentagon personnel, HRW determined Israel to be responsible for the blasts.

Ambrose fills the rest of the column with platitudes on Israel’s attempts to avoid civilians and hollow statements by military personnel proclaiming their “respect for life.” Not only does Israel participate in the routine killing of civilians, it often does so while committing illegal executions of “suspected” terrorists. These executions, often in the form of air strikes on densely populated areas, take place with the military serving as judge, jury and executioner.

Such actions, including the bulldozing of homes, restrictive curfews and cumbersome checkpoints often inhibit Palestinian life to the point some feel they have no recourse other than to turn to terrorism.